Tyrant

Resident Evilby Shocka

Those lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to brave the zombie-infested horrors of the Arklay Research Facility, a scientic lab hidden within and beneath an isolated mansion just outside of Raccoon City, found themselves face-to-face with an even bigger horror - the Tyrant.

The T-002 Tyrant (aka. "Premature Tyrant") served as a precursor to the T-103 models and was created within the depths of the mansion. During the events of Resident Evil, Albert Wesker ordered the Tyrant to slay the remaining members of Racoon City's S.T.A.R.S.
The Tyrant wounded Wesker, leaving him to die. The remaining S.T.A.R.S. members engaged the Tyrant in battle before escaping the mansion. Although it had exceptional fighting capabilities, Umbrella didn't intend to mass produce it, instead using this model as base to improve upon. It is stated in Wesker's Report that, in theory, only a small proportion of people injected with refined T-Virus directly into their DNA could become a Tyrant, while the rest would only become normal zombies.

We've seen numerous Resident Evil toys before, with NECA most recently stepping up to the plate to release a series of anniversary figures, featuring the main characters and most notable threats found lurking within the celebrated horror games. The big bad at the end of the original Resident Evil and the "RE"make was the Tyrant, a huge lumbering monstrosity that represents an uber-zombie, with a humanoid shape but with dead-blue skin, blistering fat bloody veins and huge clawed talons. Not to mention the fact that it's, like, 10 feet tall.

Unfortunately, the size is the only thing NECA have really got right here, because this isn't a very good Tyrant toy. Packaged without legs in one of the nifty half-sized NECA clamshells, the Tyrant snaps together to make the big bad, but he doesn't look all that great. The sculpt is very simple, featuring all of the nasty exaggerated veins and pulsating bits, but the effectiveness is nearly ruined by two things - ugly joints, and subpar paint.

The Tyrant is mostly one shade of blue,
which is inconsistent from front to back. The veins run from dark purple to red, but don't seem overly detailed, with a lot of uneven splatter on the taloned hands and the exposed organ-type-things. Up close, it just doesn't look good - even worse, the articulation is minimal, and yet the joints are all ugly. Balljointed shoulders are not well incorporated into the look of the figure, the swivels attaching the legs to the body look ugly, and worst of all, a balljointed midsection highlights the difference in blue shade between the top and the bottom halves of the figure.

The effect is ugly, ugly, ugly,
and that articulation is nearly the Springfield Four, with neither of the arms getting much range for movement, nor the body. The actual poses of the Tyrant are very limited - he's basically got his arms down, or he's waving. There's just no playability here, and it's disappointing after the wonderful Palisades toys, that were better in every way.

Since the Tyrant is too large to stand on his own (also something Palisades never had a problem with) he comes with one accessory, a black pegged base. I'm really disappointed in this toy, the first I got from the new Resident Evil series, and I'm hoping the others will impress more - it's just that now we're paying more than ever for toys, you expect a bit more than what you're getting here, especially from a company like NECA who now has a lot of the hottest properties. Very disappointing.